Year's End Rebels

This year brought many projects that weren't traditional illustration projects for me. We also had some health issues in our family, hence the lack of updates this year. I did, however, get some illustration pieces done. A set of "cameos" and a new Rebel to add to the Great Rebellion series.

To start is our Rebel, King Ahgo of the Trolls of Spikeheart. Ahgo appeared in three episodes of the classic She-Ra: Princess of Power Filmation series - The Crystal Castle, Troll's Dream, and The Rock People. While his design implies that he is a skilled warrior, he also shows that he his capable of feats of magic. They include, prophetic dreams, magical imprisoning spells, and teleportation.

You can purchase this illustration of King Ahgo on a variety of formats at my Red Bubble store, including prints, cards, stickers, mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, kids & babies clothes, clock, tote bags, pillows, phone & ipad cases & skins, and many more! Click on the picture to go to its link at the store.
"The Kindly Magical Troll King" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2019
King Ahgo character ©Dreamworks 2019

I also did some "cameo" illustrations of He-Man, She-Ra, the new She-Ra as seen in the Sh-Ra and the Princesses of Power cartoon on Netflix, and He-Man from the New Adventures of He-Man (who, in that show, formed his own "Great Rebellion" when the Evil Mutants took over the planet Primus for a time). These are also available in various formats at my Red Bubble Store. Click on each individual picture to go to its listing at the store.

"Barbarian Brother of the Valkyerie Cameo" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2019
He-Man ©Mattel 2019

"Valkyrie Cameo" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2019
She-Ra ©Mattel 2019

"New Valkyrie Design Cameo" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2019
She-Ra ©Mattel 2019

"Barbarian Brother in Space Cameo" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2019
He-Man ©Mattel 2019

Rebels That Rock - And Dance!

I've finished some more illustrations for my Great Rebellion Series, and offered a couple new group shots as well. First off, we have the Rock People, which also contain the two "Comet Warriors," which Stondar and Rokkon were also known in the vintage Masters of the Universe toyline. However, at the time that the toys came out, new episodes of the He-Man cartoon were no longer being produced, and so the characters ended up being featured on the She-Ra cartoon - along with Granita, a female Rock Person, who was planned to be produced in the vintage Masters of the Universe, only Mattel decided that boys couldn't handle *ANOTHER* "icky girl" in the line. I mean, those poor boys of the 80's did have their precious and frail masculinities threatened by the introduction of THREE other females in the line, Teela, Evil-Lyn, and Sorceress, so goodness knows what sort of villainy and ararchy would have resulted if a FOURTH female had been introduced, so Granita was cut.

But she showed up on the She-Ra cartoon - TWICE! Stondar showed up twice, and Rokkon only showed up once. Also, another member of the Rock People showed up in an episode, a young female named Facet. As far as I'm aware, there was no other appearance of Facet in any other media. Stondar, Rokkon, and Granita all showed up in the Masters of the Universe daily newspaper strips, where they were all depicted in their simplified Filmation designs, but we wee told that Stondar is the father to both Rokkon and Granita.

For these illustrations, I wanted to largely begin with the Filmation design as a base, but add in a lot of details that the two Comet Warriors had in their vintage action figure and Masters of the Universe Classics action figures had. And in that, to make them all cohesive, I added more details and elements to the designs of Granita and Facet to bring them closer to the two males. All illustrations in this post are available on a variety of products such as T-shirts, hoodies, dresses, kids/babies clothes, posters, prints, phone cases and skins, iPad cases and skins, mugs, tote bags, drawstring bags, pillows, studio pouches, scarves, duvet covers, skirts, journals, clocks, acryllic blocks, and more at my RedBubble store. You can click the text link there to go to my store, or you can click on each picture to go to that illustration's listing at my store directly.

"Rebels That Rock" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Granita, Stondar, Facet, and Rokkon
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Characters ©Mattel and Classic Media 2017

"The Gracious Girl of Granite" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Granita
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
@Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Classic Media 2017

"The Reckless Young Warrior of Rock" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Rokkon
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
@Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Mattel 2017

"The Stoic Leader of Stone" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Stondar
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Mattel 2017

"The Fearless Faceted Femme" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Facet
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Classic Media 2017

Another character that I completed an illustration of is of one that I call "Bubblerina." This character was previously only seen in one illustration in a German catalgoue that featured the never-produced Bubble Carriage. The illustration depicted She-Ra riding inside the carriage along with this mysterious new character, and Spinerella riding on the back of the carriage. For years, fans speculated whether this was a new character or a mis-colored Mermista, but I was of the opinion that it was indeed, a different and distinct character, and that the bubble morif on her was similiar to the bubble motif of the carriage and Bubble Power She-Ra. I suspected that this character was a dancer (because of the ballerina tutu) and for some reason, the bubble motif was given to She-Ra to make the Bubble Power She-Ra variant in Wave 3, and the character was cut from the wave but her dancing elements were given to Spinerella, and the element of her being Spinerella's sister and the largely blue color motif were taken up my Netossa.

This was all confirmed at 2016's Power-Con convention, when the Sander Brothers ended up revealing a lot of research that they did into Mattel's archives on the She-Ra: Princess of Power line, and said that this "Bubble Carriage Maiden" was a character initially named Joya, and that her bubble gimmick was given to Bubble Power She-Ra, because the gimmick for the Wave 3 She-Ra variant was not working. However, I do not think that if Joya had gone to production, that she would have been released with the name "Joya." It doesn't have the descriptive and pun-filled nature of the other She-Ra characters' names. We leared from that Power-Con that Perfuma's original name was Terra (like the earth). I feel that if Joya would have been released, she would have been released under a name that describes her abilities and who she is, thus "Bubblerina," which combines "bubble" and "ballerina" together to give us an idea of what she's about. In my illustration, I did want to give her a couple more details to make her fit better with the other female Rebels in this series. I gave her a belt that's reminiscent of the belt worn by Bow or most of the male figures in the Masters of the Universe line. I also wanted to make sure there was a gem in her costume's bodice like nearly all of the vintage Princess of Power figures had. So without further ado, I give you Bubblerina!
"The Joyous Bouyant Bubblerina" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Bubblerina/Joya
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith
Character ©Mattel 2017

I also created a group shot featuring Bubblerina and the wave 2 vintage She-Ra characters and a few other characters from the cartoon. The Wave 2 characters were very much representative of the elements, and I felt Bubblerina worked with that as well. Mermista as water, Sweet Bee as fire (her sting), Perfuma earth, Flutterina wind, and Peekablue spirit with her psychic abilities. Bubblerina has elements of water and wind. Sprittina also represents Earth, while Kowl and Kowla are wind. Madame Razz is spirit and wind. Loo-Kee is  spirit.
"Wave 2+ Rebels" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Characters ©Mattel and Classic Media 2017

Another Round of Rebels With More Products Offered

There more additions to my Great Rebellion Collection, featuring the virtuous characters of the She-Ra: Princess of Power Universe. RedBubble has offered even more products to print these images on, so while you can find these illustrations on t-shirts, hoodies, leggings, pencil skirts, scarves, kids'/baby's clothes, stickers, prints, posters, postcards, greeting cards, pillows, totes, drawstring bags, studio pouches, mugs, duvets, iPad/iPhone/Samsung Galaxy/laptop cases and skins, spiral notebooks, and hardcover journals, you can also find all of the other previous illustrations from this collection available on those products as well. In fact, much of my work is available on most of these formats at my RedBubble.com store.

"Rebels: Credited and Wave 1 Plus" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration. This image features all of the characters on the She-Ra cartoon's opening credits sequence, and all the characters from the first wave of the vintage toyline.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2015

Star Wind: "Valkyrie's Companion Mare" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration. Star Wind is a combination of her Filmation design and the first toy Swift Wind.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2015

Spritina: "The Sweet Little Wood Sprite" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration. The first of the Twiggets in this series, Spritina was the only one featured in the cartoon's opening sequence.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith

Peekablue: "The Beplumed Oracle" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2015

Snout Spout: "The Unsinkable Elephantine Firefighter" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2015

Perfuma: "The Scentsational Floral Nymph" by Kevenn T. Smith. Click on the above image to buy products with this illustration.
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2015

Characters ©Mattel

Illumina: Eternian Solstice by Kevenn T. Smith

I did this piece for the Illumina Day fan project in support of awareness of the character of Illumina for the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line, of which I'm a big fan of.  Illumina was a character created by Val Staples and Emiliano Santalucia and slated to appear in MV Creations' 200x era He-Man and the Masters of the Universe comic book, and even appeared in print in an in-house ad, before things behind the scenes prevented her appearance.  Illumina was going to be a heroic Gar warrior, also gifted with powers of light, who was trapped on the Dark Hemisphere when the Mystic Wall went up, keeping Skeletor locked away for years.  Many fans hope she will win the upcoming fan choice contest from Mattel and will receive a figure in the MOTU Classics line.

I listened to a lot of holiday music as I was making this piece, and I get a Holiday feeling from it.  Since Illumina can light up the dark, I thought a lot about the Winter Solstice, and how it's the longest period of darkness in the year.  I'm sure Eternia has its own version of the Winter Solstice, with a longest night of the year.  Illumina, herself, spent many years confined to the dark half of Eternia with precious little light.  I feel like there's a sense of hope in this piece that accompanies the Winter Solstice.  A hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Pencil, ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2011

Singular Sensation: Pig Guard

This second entry in my Singular Sensation series is of a character drawn for the cover of Oziana #37.  I simply call him "Pig Guard."  I got a request to draw characters that appeared in stories in the issue, but I didn't always have access to the actual stories.  In some cases, all I got was copies of artwork being used to illustrate the stories.  In this case, all I had was an illustration to go on, but one that really captured my imagination.  I am a big fan of the work that The Four Horsemen studio did on updating Mattel's Masters of the Universe property for the 2002 line.  The amount of detail they put into each of the character re-designs continues to impress me.  When I saw the illustration of this "Pig Guard" character, I thought it would be a really fun idea to give him that same kind of approach.  I wanted to put more detail into his look and to introduce a more aggressive and physical element to the entire wrap-around cover piece.

In the cover piece, the Pig Guard was going to be fighting on the same side as Bastinda, the Russian version of the Wicked Witch of the West.  I thought it would be a nice homage to the Winkie Soldiers in the MGM musical movie version of The Wizard of Oz if I made the Pig Guard's skin green.  However, when I thought about that, I worried that some people would think that I was trying to rip off the Gammorean Guards in the palace of Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.  So that idea was nixed.  I still wanted to make the Pig Guard look more otherwordly, instead of a pink, tan, or brown skin tones that one usually found on a pig.  That's when I hit upon the idea to make the skin tone a nice "decayed blue."  It really worked too!  I thought I was being so original, until a friend pointed out that Gannon, the Big Boss in The Legend of Zelda game for Nintendo, was a big blue pig.  It's true, there really is nothing entirely new!  I haven't played that game in years, but from what I remember of the character, I think I made this Pig Guard look significantly different.


Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils, Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2011

He-Man & She-Ra in Color

I sold the He-Man and She-Ra artcards and colored them before I sent them off.  I wanted to post them here to be able to compare to the inked versions.  This artcard is now available as cards, postcards, and small matted prints at RedBubble.com!
He-Man & Orko:



She-Ra and Swift Wind, also available as cards, postcards, and small matted prints at RedBubble.com:

He-Man, Orko, She-Ra, and Swift Wind ©Mattel 2011

The Last Two Artcards

I am back from Mid-Ohio-Con, and I had a lot of success there.  It was really great to meet some of the comic fans out there and fellow artists. Mid-Ohio-Con was an incredibly amazing experience for me that I learned a lot from.  There were two other artcards I was able to finish right before I went to Mid-Ohio-Con that I wanted to post here.

He-Man and Orko:

She-Ra and Swift Wind:

He-Man, Orko, She-Ra, and Swift Wind ©Mattel 2011